Friday, February 6, 2009

The Differences Between Anthonys

The NBA is a big place. There are over 15, 000 players currently playing and it's understandable to sometimes get confused about who is who. Trust me, I know. One time, I mixed up Tony Dumas and Richard Dumas and felt like a jerk for upwards of 8 months.

But that's not the point right now. The point right now is the various Anthonys who are in the NBA. Did you know there are nine current NBA players who have Anthony as a first or last name? I did. I did the research. Furthermore, did you know that greater than 25% of NBA players have Anthony as a middle name? That's true, too. Players such as Brad Miller, Andrew Bynum, Francisco Garcia, and Joakim Noah all share this middle name. In fact, Anthony is even the middle name of Carmelo Anthony, making him Carmelo Anthony Anthony. I know, it's hard to believe but I wouldn't make that up.

Even more confounding is that there are FOUR current point guards who have the first name Anthony. Johnson, Carter, Roberson, and Parker are all point guards and it's easy to get mix them up. But in order to subvert that confusion, I've created this annotated guide to the different point guard Anthonys in the league. It is suggested that this be printed in your wallet and carried at all times. Or you can just bookmark this page. Either way, it's best to have this information with you at all times.

For this chart, green connected boxes are similarities and red boxes that aren't connected are things that are unique to each player. As you can see, I've numbered each box for easy reference. Green:

Johnson and Carter are both bald.

Johnson, Carter, and Roberson all have facial hair.

Parker and Johnson both have the number 8 on their jerseys.

Roberson and Parker both have closely trimmed hair, but are not bald.

Carter and Roberson both have tattoos.

Carter and Roberson both have the number 5 on their jerseys.

Parker and Roberson both have necks while Johnson and Carter are neckless.

Red:

Roberson wears a thin rubber strap bearing the word "BALLA."

Parker wears a black wrist wrap that conceals the sweet friendship bracelets he got while playing overseas.

Parker wears a white wristband.

As you can see, these Anthonys are VERY similar and also interchangeable. There are rumors around the NBA that, at times, these Anthonys have been switched between teams without anyone knowing. However, with this detailed diagram, we won't be fooled again.